Embodiments of the present invention relate in general to electronic communication systems and more specifically to techniques for generating an alert upon detection of a change in communication behavior between parties.
It is as important as ever to maintain a social network of personal contacts. A vital part of human nature is to be able to rely on others for support, information, entertainment and enlightenment. Social networks play major roles in business and education and also contribute to one's well-being and happiness. The best networks are often built upon trust between pairs of people so that one's reliance on the other does not go unmet and leads to a common goal.
However, it is probably more difficult than ever to maintain one's social network. This is due in part to the many types of electronic communication that are available today. For example, communication options include email, chat, instant messaging (IM), posting to bulletin boards, blogs, wikis, Internet Protocol (IP) based voice over IP (VoIP) phones, etc. Often, the many and varied communication options available make it very difficult to know how to reach another person. Also, the ease and speed with which messages are sent can require a person to respond to many messages each day in order to maintain a social network. Not only does this create a lot of work, it also can cause inadvertent errors or omissions such as failing to respond to another's inquiry, request or simple friendly salutation—the failure of which may cause insecurity, or a loss of faith or trust in the sender with regard to the silent recipient and thus can diminish a social network.